Obama Endorsed By LGBT Magazine The Advocate

The country's oldest LGBT magazine issued its first presidential endorsement in decades on Friday, throwing its support behind President Barack Obama for his recent show of support for marriage equality.

Under the headline "In Obama We Trust," Advocate editor-in-chief Matthew Breen commended the president for his "enormous" statement that he thinks "same-sex couples should be able to get married" in an ABC interview last month.

In the endorsement, Breen predicted that Obama's historic backing means that no Democratic presidential hopeful will come out of the primary season opposing gay marriage ever again.

"That position would appear too backward to have legitimacy in the 21st century," Breen wrote.

The Advocate had less flattering words for former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Breen accused the Republican candidate of "aligning himself with a faction of the Republican Party that does not include equality among its declared ideals."

But the magazine has not always championed Obama as an LGBT ally.

In its August 2009 issue, a lead story ticked off various campaign promises to gays and lesbians on which Obama had failed to deliver. Its cover mocked the iconic poster behind Obama's 2008 campaign, replacing its longtime slogan "HOPE" with a less assuring "NOPE?"

Even in Friday's endorsement, Breen acknowledged that Obama's evolved stance is hardly ground-breaking but simply the right thing to do at this point in American history.

"Obama's newly declared position on marriage equality is not an extreme view, and it is consistent with the view of the majority of Americans, who believe that same-sex couples should have the right to marry," Breen wrote.

Breen told The Huffington Post on Friday that the last time the Advocate endorsed a political candidate was in 1977, when the magazine weighed in on several non-presidential races across the country.

So, does that make Obama the first commander-in-chief to earn the magazine's stamp of approval?